Game Day: Suns (14-13) @ Kings (16-10), Fri 12/22/23

[Superbone]

Thanks 'Bone!

No problem. I was at the airport with minutes to spare before boarding my plane. Rough game though. I don't think we played horribly but the Kings were firing on all cylinders and showed the Suns what it looks like when a team is on the same page. They are pretty much the same team as last year and that's what continuity can do for you.

[Superbone]

I don't believe this game will be close. I think the Kings like everyone else lately are just gonna bomb on us from 3 and crush the offensive boards. We lose by 20.

Good call.

[Superbone]

No Nurk, no problem. Eubanks holds Sabonis in check, Fox has a downer for a game while Book and KD sync up, Yuta hits four 3s, EG hits 6, Okogie comes back and gives us a double double. Suns by 7.

I like the positivity but I think TOO wins this round.

[Superbone]

KD in particular doesn't looked engaged on D.

His handles have gotten very sloppy too. The turnovers are piling up. He's not going in the right direction for us. Especially after what we gave up for him.

[SunsSince92]

KD in particular doesn't looked engaged on D.

His handles have gotten very sloppy too. The turnovers are piling up. He's not going in the right direction for us. Especially after what we gave up for him.

I've got to say I don't really like his influence on Book either. Since his arrival we had the whole '36 unbothered' nonsense which seemed to be Book casting CP3 aside as soon as his idol arrived. Since then Book just gives off the vibe of someone who thinks he's made it already. The cars, shoes and attitude this season just feel out of kilter with what got him to where he is thus far in his career. The 'winners work' thing was cringe as hell but the sentiment was correct and is the mindset that's missing this year. Competitive fire has been replaced with apathy and arrogance.

He needs to take a look in the mirror and realise that for all of the good he's done for this franchise, he has also been partly responsible for the collapses against the Bucks, Mavs and Nuggets, two of which included humiliating blowouts.

He talks a lot about Kobe and 'being legendary' but he's kidding himself if he thinks he has that mindset currently.

[virtual9mm]

Something has to give, one way or another. But which way will things break?

[Flagrant Fowl]

I made a point to watch KD on D this game and it was just such an atrocious effort. He rarely provided help and when he did, he’d do the Ayton thing where someone is about to shoot on him in the paint and he just doesn’t lift his hands to contest. It happened over and over.

I really think back-line help defense is one of our biggest problems right now. It’s so easy to play against us. Pull the big out with a screen, get a green light to the basket. On the off-chance there’s help, kick it out to the 3 point shooter who is likely wide open. On the off-chance the suns actually run out on that shooter, they’re definitely not running out to the shooter who is one pass away. Lather, rinse, repeat. Grayson freaking Allen is our best help defender.

KD’s 7 completely unforced turnovers didn’t help either. Just total sloppiness and apathy.

He’s been bad for his standard recently and it really bums me out.

[ShelC]

Postgame Quotes and Videos

Spoiler: show/hide

[TOO]

I'm pretty stoked that Azibuike played well, I've got a thing for wide body C with long arms lol.

[SunsSince92]

I'm pretty stoked that Azibuike played well, I've got a thing for wide body C with long arms lol.

Haha, I did say earlier this week that I'd prefer Vogel gave him the nod over Bol and, for one game at least, it looks as though that was a sensible decision. Sadly it still didn't result in a W.

[ShelC]

He was a nice surprise playing inside from the dunker's spot. Some impressive moves in the paint, goes up quick and goes for the dunk and the foul. KD likes playing next to athletic, defensive 5s like that too. You gotta give newer, younger guys like that 3-5 games to get scouted but maybe he holds up and gives us a new dimension inside for a few minutes a night.

[JeremyG]

KD in particular doesn't looked engaged on D.

His handles have gotten very sloppy too. The turnovers are piling up. He's not going in the right direction for us. Especially after what we gave up for him.

I've got to say I don't really like his influence on Book either. Since his arrival we had the whole '36 unbothered' nonsense which seemed to be Book casting CP3 aside as soon as his idol arrived.

But I thought he was just talking about the hair salon…er, golf course.

[Mori Chu]

It's good that Vogel tried some other guys out to try to find something that worked. Azubuike was genuinely refreshing from the backup C spot. Would not mind seeing him get more minutes. I also think Little pretty consistently impresses me; his 3-point shooting is pretty good from the corners, and he drives to the basket and finishes pretty well. That's exactly what I want from him. Increase his minutes! And Metu was pretty good in the time he played, giving us 10 points on 3-6 shooting. Metu seems to have some nice chemistry with KD; they seem to find each other a lot for open shots and layups.

On the other side, Coach also gave Saben Lee 20 minutes and he gave us an unimpressive 2-8 including 0-3 from 3. Most of those 3s were not even close. He did give us 4 assists, but I don't think Lee is an answer for us. Goodwin also unfortunately had an awful 1-6 night shooting. If Goodwin could hit his open shots a bit more, he'd be a real asset for us. As it is, he's kind of a PG Okogie, but he's too small to really contain elite PGs like Fox.

My man Yuta has been a real disappointment. He's a better defender than I thought, but his shooting and scoring have been basically atrocious. He's shooting 33.3% for the season, but I gotta say when he puts it up I mostly expect it to rim out. Was really hoping he were more of a dead-eye shooter than he's been. Maybe part of that is that our offense doesn't generate enough easy open shots, but it seems to be hitting Yuta harder than others.

And what the heck is going on with KBD? He's basically a ghost at this point. Biggest disappointment on the team, maybe? What a bummer that he can't even get himself in the rotation.

I think maybe we need to play more guys who can use their physicality/size either as an elite defender or as an interior offensive player. That would mean giving more minutes to guys like Okogie (when he's back), Little, Azubuike. I'm fine with Goodwin, too. Fewer minutes to guys like Yuta, Eubanks, Lee.

We shot 5-25 (20%) from 3 last night. SAC shot 12-38 (31.6%) which ain't that great either, but there's no reason a team like ours should have such horrendous 3-point shooting. We won't win in today's NBA with shooting like that.

[SunsRIt]

I couldn’t even watch the whole game. Found something better to do, like wash my hair. And I shave my head.

[ShadowHawke]

I couldn’t even watch the whole game. Found something better to do, like wash my hair. And I shave my head.

And not necessarily in that order.

[JJ Slim]

My man Yuta has been a real disappointment. He's a better defender than I thought, but his shooting and scoring have been basically atrocious. He's shooting 33.3% for the season, but I gotta say when he puts it up I mostly expect it to rim out. Was really hoping he were more of a dead-eye shooter than he's been. Maybe part of that is that our offense doesn't generate enough easy open shots, but it seems to be hitting Yuta harder than others.

...

We shot 5-25 (20%) from 3 last night. SAC shot 12-38 (31.6%) which ain't that great either, but there's no reason a team like ours should have such horrendous 3-point shooting. We won't win in today's NBA with shooting like that.

Besides our big 3 we loaded up with supposed elite 3 point shooters that would make opposing teams pay for doubling on Book, Beal, KD and that we would be blowing out teams simply by outscoring them. All that seems to happen now is that we get in a hole from turnovers and then we try to get out of it by hoisting up threes that miss and the other team goes down for a dunk or 3 and we get deeper in that hole. It's especially debilitating when we make a small run and get close and then we are right back where we started or worse. And Booker's and KD's shots don't seem to be falling either especially Booker's. He seems to be more worried about getting a foul instead of actually making the shot and when he doesn't get the call he spends time barking at the refs instead of getting back on defense and in the mean time the other team has run down for an easy score. Allen and EG are about the only ones I feel are getting consistent 3's to go down.

[JJ Slim]

I just checked stats and the Sun are at #16 in 3pt % at 36.7% which is right in the middle and not great. But even worse is that they are #24 in both 3pt attempted at 31.3pg and made at 11.5pg. Definitely not what I believe was the expectation.

I'm not sure how relevant it is but 3 teams that are worse in all those stats are the Nuggets, Lakers and Pistons.

[Nodack]

I give this game a 3 out of 10 on the pleasure to watch scale. I am going to the Mavs game tomorrow. I hope the Suns at least show up and only lose by 15.

[Superbone]

Lowered Expectations! [/MadTV]

[Nodack]

I give this game a 3 out of 10 on the pleasure to watch scale. I am going to the Mavs game tomorrow. I hope the Suns at least show up and only lose by 15.

They only lost by 14…happy days.